What are wood pellets? What are the benefits? Are they renewable? How are they delivered?

Delivery options

Our wood pellets are available for delivery pre-bagged on pallets, in 1 tonne dumpy bags or, for larger quantities, loose in bulk delivered by wagon to be tipped or blown direct to your store. Alternatively, pellets can be collected directly from the factory gate on a cash and carry basis.

Bagged deliveries

Our pre-bagged wood pellets are available in a range of convenient sizes - 10kg, 15kg or 20kg bags as 1 tonne lifts on pallets (1.05 tonne for 15kg bags) - allowing you to choose the best size to suit your individual storage and hopper loading arrangements. They are also available in individually weighed 1 tonne bulk bags with tied tops, lifting loops and delivery chutes.

Smaller palleted quantities can be despatched via an external palletised distribution service but this will generally result in a kerbside drop, with responsibility for transferring bags to store being with the customer. For larger pallet numbers and dumpy bags it is essential that customers are able to make their own arrangements for a fork lift truck, or similar, to be made available at the delivery destination for unloading.

Please note that bagged wood pellets should always be stored under cover and in dry conditions.

Bulk deliveries

Wood pellets can be delivered loose, in bulk, direct to your store, either tipped from a trailer or blown through a semi-flexible delivery tube. Typically we have the ability to deliver loads of up to 20 tonne by pneumatic blower wagon and up to perhaps 30 tonne by articulated tipper trailer.

For bulk deliveries a store is required that will allow deliveries to be undertaken quickly and easily, with minimum break-up of pellets, allow smooth delivery to your boiler and which will keep pellets in prime condition for burning. A good installer will provide additional advice on this.

For bulk blown deliveries storage facilities at the customer site should be equipped with a minimum of two delivery pipes fitted with Stortz 110A couplings to which the delivery tube can be attached. These should be sited so as to enable the delivery vehicle to manouevre and approach to a maximum distance of 20m from the store inlet point(transfer of pellets over greater distance will increase the chances of pellet disintegration) and ideally be positioned at a height of 1.75m or less from the ground. Delivery pipes should preferably be of metal construction and earthed to prevent a build up, and subsequent discharge, of static electricity.

Storage facilities should be equipped with adequate facilities to minimise pellet disintegration (e.g. soft bends in pipe work and impact reduction matting within hard surfaced storage areas). Storage facilities should be sealed against dust egress and moisture ingress and be shielded against sources of electrical discharge. Additional measures to ensure site safety and unrestricted reception of the delivery vehicle (e.g. warning notices, temporary bollards, cross hatched road markings, etc.) are recommended to be put in place prior to arrival.

With the above measures in place the delivery operator will proceed to position the vehicle as close as possible to the storage inlet pipes and connect a pneumatic delivery pipe from the vehicle to the inlet pipe using a Storz 110A coupling. A filter sack will be attached to the second (outlet) pipe. Pellets will then be blown to the store at an appropriate pressure (approximately 0.6 bar) and any dust displaced by the increased pressure in the store will be collected in the filter sack.

Collection

As well as arranging the delivery of bulk loose and bagged wood pellet orders we are happy to accept customer orders for collection on a cash and carry basis. To confirm availability, and reduce waiting time while your order is processed, please telephone or email your requirements to us at least a day prior to arrival.

Please note that customers must take responsibility for their own loading arrangements and ensuring that the vehicle used for collection is safe and appropriate for the transport of the weight and volume of pellets ordered. Assistance can be arranged to load pallets into vehicles or onto trailers by fork-lift but it should be noted that packed pallet dimensions are 1.25m wide, 1.6m high and 1m deep.

Payment can be made by debit or credit card. We regret that we are unable to accept payment by cheque.

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Plan for storage and delivery

Good planning before you buy saves financial waste and personal heartache later.

Consider how delivery vehicles will access your site and how the fuel will be transferred: -

A typical 8-wheel bulk blower unit will be 9.5m long, 3m wide and 3-4m high, weigh 32 tonne fully loaded and have a turning circle of 12.5m (outside edge).

The delivery vehicle should ideally be able to approach within 15m of the store connection point (blowing pellets over more than 20m should be avoided).

Choose as high a capacity store as the available space (and project budget) will allow in order to take advantage of lower bulk rates and fewer delivery charges (consider that, for blown deliveries, it will probably cost as much to deliver 1 tonne as it does 20 tonne).

Remember that 10 tonne of wood pellets will occupy 15m3 or more of space. Our wood pellets offer a calorific value in the region of 4.8 kWh/kg (17MJ/kg) or better and, with a typical bulk density of 650 kg/m3, each cubic metre of wood pellets should provide over 3000 kWh of heat.

For further information and advice on how to avoid the delivery pitfalls, contact us.

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